deadline

With Debt Ceiling In Sight, Regulators Continue Dire Warnings

by The Huffington Post on May 13, 2011

Huffington Post…

The federal government is scheduled to reach the debt limit Monday, and with no deal yet struck, top economic officials are warning lawmakers of the consequences of inaction. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told a Senate committee Thursday that a failure to raise the debt ceiling could lead to a devastating financial crisis, as he reiterated the argument that he and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner have been making for months. A default would be a “black swan event,” so rare that it’s impossible to fully predict the potentially disastrous consequences, argues a new study leaked by Politico . The two sides in the debt ceiling debate seem to be hardening, rather than bridging, their differences. Republican lawmakers expressed increased skepticism that a failure to raise the debt ceiling would have serious consequences, while top economic officials repeated the argument that this legislative inaction could lead to a default and spark a worldwide economic disaster. “The worst outcome would be one in which the financial system would again destabilize,” Bernanke told the Senate Banking Committee, saying such an event “would have extremely dire consequences for the U.S. economy.” The U.S. government must continuously borrow money to pay principal and interest on older debt, which means that if it is barred from borrowing above a limit, it risks defaulting on some of its loans. A missed debt payment, which Getihner said could happen by August 2 if the debt ceiling isn’t raised, would send panic through financial markets around the globe, as what is considered the world’s safest investment would become compromised, independent economists say. A default would likely touch off a financial crisis worse than the one the county is still recovering from, Geithner told Congress last month. Since it appears that no deal will be struck before Monday, the Treasury is expected to initiate the second phase of the program of “extraordinary measures,” designed to keep the government out of default. Earlier this month, the Treasury stopped issuing special securities designed to help cities and states manage their debt. Starting Monday, it will be able to turn some government debt held by a federal pension fund into cash, and to block other funds from new investment. This will allow the government to tread water until August, at which point it might have to default. Republican lawmakers have used the debt ceiling debate as a way to enforce fiscal austerity, saying they will not raise the limit unless they win concessions from their colleagues on the Hill. Obama administration officials have sharply criticized this position, saying lawmakers are essentially threatening to crash the economy in order to achieve a political agenda. The Centrist Democrat Group Third Way is preparing a study that describes the consequences of default in clear terms. Politico’s Morning Money got a draft of the study, which lays out five consequences: 1) Treasury bond rates rise. 2) The stock market drops, potentially sharply. 3) The dollar loses its “special status.” 4) Mortgage rates rise. 5) Small business and consumer credit tightens and chokes the recovery. The study explains: The United States has the luxury of borrowing money more cheaply than any other country because Treasury bills are the safest investment on earth. But that would no longer be the case with default. Losing this safety feature would be a devastating blow, jeopardizing our ability to borrow at low rates, a huge advantage for America and part of our engine for economic growth. The group also has a nice graphic that shows these consequences as dominos. One stumbling block in the negotiations, it seems, is that the two sides in the debate don’t view the consequences of Congressional inaction with the same degree of solemnity. “When you say the drop-dead day is going to be August, I question that,” Rep. Tom Rooney (R-Fla.) said, according to the Wall Street Journal . “I’ll believe it when I see it.” The so-called drop-dead date, at which the government would likely default, was once July 8. But in a recent letter to Congress, Geithner said tax receipts were stronger than expected, allowing the drop-dead date to be August 2 instead. That revision has apparently increased skepticism on the Hill. “We are writing to seek clarification and an explanation of the rationale for the Department’s August 2, 2011 estimate,” reads a Thursday letter from the Republican Study Committee , a House group, to Geithner (hat tip to Politico). But in multiple letters to Congress, Geithner has made his reasoning clear. He has described the process the government must undertake to avoid default, and he has repeatedly emphasized the “catastrophic” consequences of keeping the debt ceiling where it is. “We are particularly concerned by the growing belief that hitting the August drop-dead date would be no big deal,” Bank of America chief economist Ethan Harris said in a new note, according to Business Insider . Harris says there’s a 60 percent chance Congress will delay raising the limit until right before the deadline. And there’s a 30 percent chance Congress will blow past the deadline, Harris says in the note.

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With Debt Ceiling In Sight, Regulators Continue Dire Warnings

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FOREX: Euro Vulnerable as Deadline for Spanish Bank Reform Looms Ahead

by on April 14, 2011

menafn.com…

FOREX: Euro Vulnerable as Deadline for Spanish Bank Reform Looms Ahead

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FOREX: Euro Vulnerable as Deadline for Spanish Bank Reform Looms Ahead

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Obama Urges Lawmakers To Reach Budget Agreement To Avert Government Shutdown

April 2, 2011

WASHINGTON — The White House says President Barack Obama urged the leaders of the House and Senate on Saturday to agree on a budget in time to avoid a government shutdown next weekend. Negotiators are discussing spending cuts in the $33 billion range but haven’t agreed on where to make them. Talks were continuing through the weekend. Funding for the government expires at midnight Friday. Obama says a government shutdown would hurt the economy just as it’s beginning to create jobs. After keeping a low profile and delegating the negotiating to the vice president, his budget director and other White House aides, Obama has begun to step up his involvement and press for a deal as the deadline nears. He said Friday that compromise was within reach.

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Chase Ends Debit Rewards Program

March 21, 2011

Put another nail in the coffin for debit card rewards. Chase is notifying customers that they will no longer be able to earn points after July 19. The points accrued up until then will not expire. Chase had already closed off enrollment in the rewards program to new customers as of Feb. 8. Background Chase says it’s ending the program because of a regulation that will sharply limit the fees it can collect from merchants whenever customers swipe their debit cards. The cap on the debit swipe fees banks can collect was mandated last year under the financial overhaul known as the Dodd-Frank Act. The current proposal would cap fees at 12 cents per transaction, versus the current 1 percent to 2 percent of the transaction amount. The banking industry says the change could slash its debit swipe fee revenue by as much as 90 percent. A final rule is expected from the Federal Reserve by April 21, unless Congress delays the deadline. The rule will take effect three months later. That’s also around the time Chase customers will stop earning debit rewards. Bank of America, Citi and Wells Fargo say they haven’t yet decided on any changes to their debit programs. The Chase Program Chase’s debit rewards program was previously free and open to anyone with a checking account. Customers earned 1 point for every $5 spent, versus 1 point for every $1 spent with credit cards. Customers could also pay a $25 annual fee to earn points at a faster rate – 4 points for every $5 spent. The bank has 27 million checking accounts, but declined to say how many of those were enrolled in the program. (This version CORRECTS Corrects annual fee to $25.)

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Fred Whelan and Gladys Stone: Condoleezza Rice – What a Procrastinator!

November 5, 2010

Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice reveals in her new book, “A Memoir of My Extraordinary, Ordinary Family and Me” that she has battled with procrastination for most of her life. She says in her book, “Procrastination remains a problem for me to this day.” The obvious question is: How can someone so successful be a procrastinator? Successful people aren’t perfect; they almost always have some part of their makeup that needs work. Some people are charismatic in front of a live audience, yet struggle with speech writing. Others are amazingly productive despite their lack of organization. What many of these people do is find ways to compensate for the areas where they are weakest. For example, CEO’s who are habitually late and who counteract this by setting their watches ahead. Procrastination is another area that plagues a lot of accomplished people, yet they are able to pull the proverbial rabbit out of a hat and complete the project every time. They do this by building in an adequate buffer to meet the deadline. Similar to “cramming” the night before a big exam, except they don’t cut it that close. There’s the “should due-date” and the “gotta due-date” and they don’t go beyond the latter. Their crunch time doesn’t ever put them in jeopardy of missing the deadline. Charles Schwab , John Chambers and Richard Branson all have dyslexia. None of them have let this hold them back evidenced by the fact that each has been a CEO of a Fortune 500 Company. Prominent attorney, David Boies , known for being a star litigator (represented the Government in Microsoft anti-trust case) also has dyslexia. Because of this, he has to commit more to memory than most lawyers because his dyslexia hinders him for glancing at note cards in the courtroom. The comedian and star of “Deal or No Deal,” Howie Mandel , has obsessive compulsive disorder and avoids at all costs shaking hands for fear of picking up germs. On his TV show he compensates for this by doing a fist bump with the contestants. David Neeleman , founder of JetBlue Airways, has Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Unfortunately, ADHD prevents him from being detail-oriented and completing daily tasks, “I have an easier time planning a 20-aircraft fleet than I do paying the light bill.” Neeleman looks at the glass as “half-full”, saying that with his disorder comes greater creativity and he credits the success of his airline with his ability to think outside the box. Whatever you are personally struggling with in your life and career, there are ways to overcome it by working around it. Some people make the mistake of using these issues as a crutch, “I’ve never been a good writer” or “My organizational skills are bad,” or “I have don’t have the ability to focus,” and give themselves permission to be held back. Successful people have a mindset geared towards getting the results they want despite the obstacles. We look up to them and appreciate what they have achieved without realizing what they have to overcome on a daily basis. These people can give us the motivation to deal with whatever is currently holding us back and unleash our full potential. Fred & Gladys Whelan Stone Executive Search and Coaching Authors of GOAL! Your 30 Day Career Plan for Business & Career Success

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Century Aluminum Extends Deadline for Nominating Directors to Board

March 19, 2010

MONTEREY, CA–(Marketwire – March 19, 2010) –  Century Aluminum Company (the ” Company “) ( NASDAQ : CENX ) today announced that the Company’s board of directors has extended the deadline for stockholders to nominate directors to the board for consideration at the 2010 annual meeting from March 21, 2010 to April 9, 2010. Any director nominations received by the Company on or prior to April 9, 2010 and otherwise complying with the Company’s bylaws may be submitted to stockholders at the 2010 annual meeting.

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British Airways Union Says Strike an Even Bet; Lufthansa Pilot Truce Holds

March 9, 2010

By Steven Rothwell and Cornelius Rahn March 9 (Bloomberg) — British Airways Plc ’s chances of avoiding a cabin-crew strike after the end of talks today are no better than even, a union said, while Deutsche Lufthansa AG pilots pledged to carry on negotiating beyond a deadline. “It’s a toss of a coin,” Len McCluskey , assistant general secretary of the Unite union, which represents 12,000 BA flight attendants in their dispute over staffing levels, said yesterday in an interview during a break in talks. “We’ve said all along we’d like to negotiate a settlement, and I remain positive.” Discussions with British Airways held under the auspices of the Trades Union Congress, the U.K.’s umbrella organization for labor groups, are due to end at 5 p.m., McCluskey said. Unite, which already holds a strike mandate , will decide whether to call a walkout once the deadline expires, he said. In Lufthansa’s dispute over the deployment of pilots from recently purchased companies, the Vereinigung Cockpit union will carry on talking even after a two-week negotiating period ordered by a court expired yesterday, spokesman Jan Krawitz said. Unite won backing for a walkout at London-based British Airways in a month-long poll of cabin crew that ended on Feb. 22. The mandate lasts for four weeks, and the union must give the company seven days’ notice of a strike, leaving March 15 as the last day that it could bring workers out. Today’s deadline for negotiations chaired by TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber was set with the agreement of both sides, the labor organization said in a statement March 5. BA Deadline “We agreed to work to the objective of completing talks by the end of Tuesday,” BA spokesman Euan Fordyce said by telephone. “Talks continue under the auspices of the TUC.” Lufthansa spokeswoman Claudia Lange said that the Cologne, Germany-based carrier is continuing talks as it seeks to avoid the resumption of a four-day strike put on hold by the Frankfurt labor court after less than 24 hours on Feb. 22. Pilots at Europe’s second-largest airline are seeking a pledge that lower-paid crews from newly acquired airlines won’t be used at the main German units. Last month’s brief walkout halted two-thirds of services, and Lufthansa has estimated that a strike will cost at least 25 million euros ($34 million) a day. To contact the reporters on this story: Steven Rothwell in London at srothwell@bloomberg.net ; Cornelius Rahn in Frankfurt at crahn2@bloomberg.net

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General Motors extends Saab deadline to Jan. 7 (Worcester Telegram & Gazette)

January 3, 2010

General Motors Co. will extend the deadline for talks on its Saab unit until Jan. 7, giving Spyker Cars NV more time to come up with financing to buy the Swedish brand, a GM official briefed on the matter said last week.

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Richard H. Neiman: Treasury’s Quiet Directive to Mortgage Servicers to Keep People in Their Homes Must Go Further

December 23, 2009

The Department of Treasury yesterday took a critical step that many of us have been calling for. Treasury told mortgage servicers to extend the fast-approaching December 31st deadline for the 375,000 families who are in trial modifications but whose document requirements have yet to be finalized in order to make their modifications permanent. But just as critical are the steps that Treasury did not take. These 375,000 families represent about half of the country’s participants in Treasury’s mortgage modification program under TARP. They have endured particular stress and uncertainty during the holiday season because their deadline for servicers to acknowledge valid receipt of all their documents was the end of the year. If rejected by servicers, the homeowners would again face foreclosure just as they did before enrolling in the program. These homeowners have proven a willingness and ability to meet their obligation under newly renegotiated mortgage terms; they have made all of their required modified monthly payments for at least three consecutive months and some for as many as five during a trial period. But servicers have yet to acknowledge valid receipt of the documentation that the program requires, or servicer outreach has not worked to obtain all the documents from the borrowers. This notice of extension is too important to simply post on a website as administrative guidance and to rely on the servicers to spread the word. Treasury announced only a few weeks ago just how critical this deadline was and even placed “swat teams” inside the servicers to facilitate document collection and validation, stating that the families would face foreclosure and be unable to again re-enroll in the program. The foreclosure issue is important to Huffington Post readers. I know because the readers were kind enough to submit hundreds of questions to me to pose to Secretary Geithner during a TARP oversight hearing in the spring. Foreclosure was rightfully high on the list of concerns. Thanks to the public outcry nearly one million families have signed up for the program and are benefiting from an average reduction of $740 per month on their monthly mortgage payments (an average interest rate reduction from 7.6% to 2.9%). Treasury and mortgage servicers must clearly and publicly announce the extensions of the trial modification period to these families to bring certainty into these homes and to help the public better understand the program, both its merits and flaws. But to be clear the extension must not serve as an excuse for continued delay by mortgage servicers or by Treasury to permanently place people into affordable mortgages. The opportunity must be taken to resolve critical implementation problems. Mortgage servicers must use the extension period to finally acknowledge the many homeowners who have clearly submitted all of their required documents and to make their mortgage modifications permanent. Servicers must also improve outreach to those remaining borrowers who have submitted incomplete documents. Treasury must use the extension period to streamline the documentation requirement itself, while continuing to safeguard against abuse. Redundant document requirements should be eliminated and servicers should be given flexibility to accept alternative documents from homeowners where possible. For example, the requirement that some homeowners provide individual profit and loss statements is ripe for reconsideration. Further, Treasury must accelerate the March 31st date for making an upcoming web portal operational that many of us called for, so that homeowners can track their documents online. This reform will quickly make borrowers aware of missing or incomplete documents, and help avoid the need for yet another extension. Finally, I hope Treasury will accept the recommendation to create an additional foreclosure prevention program to help people who fall outside of the scope of the current program. Specifically, we need a new initiative that helps people who are in affordable mortgages but have temporarily become unemployed as a result of the recession. The current modification program has been a massive undertaking, but we cannot lose our resolve at this final stage of the process on account of bureaucracy in processing and receiving documents. At the Congressional Oversight Panel’s foreclosure hearing in October, the testifying servicers rated their modification performance with a generous letter grade of B. Any servicers who do not take full advantage of this extension to complete the hard work of the past year will be deserving of an F. The Treasury directive can be found at: https://www.hmpadmin.com/portal/docs/hamp_servicer/sd0910.pdf Richard H. Neiman is New York Superintendent of Banks and a Member of the Tarp Congressional Oversight Panel

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Tax Deadline Nears For Americans With Offshore Bank Accounts

October 12, 2009

Thursday is the deadline for Americans to come clean about the money they have hidden offshore, in places like Swiss bank accounts. No one can say with certainty how much money is out there — the accounts are secret — but the hoard may be tens of billions of dollars.

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Peter Diamandis: Launching Commercial Space Flight: Part Four — Anousheh Ansari and Her $10 Million Purse

September 25, 2009

Ever since I was a young girl in Iran, I have had a deep curiosity and active imagination which peak whenever I look up at the night sky. I’m fascinated to think about how we got to this place and time, what will come after us and what else is out there. For many others the dream of space is tied to the thrill of riding a rocket, but if I could blink my eyes and be there, I would do so. To me, rockets are just transportation — the allure is in exploring the universe. I have also always had an inner voice which compels me to follow my dream and aspirations. This voice has been my guide in my journey to the U.S. and in rough road of entrepreneurship to successful business. Even though my Entrepreneurial aspirations were not directly related to my passion for space, they ultimately provided me the financial means to make space travel a realistic possibility. And so, having carried the dream of space exploration throughout my life, I was incredibly excited when Peter Diamandis came to visit our family (me, my husband, Hamid, and his brother, Amir, who are also space enthusiasts) to tell us about the X PRIZE. As entrepreneurs, we knew the huge amount of work that it would take to make his idea succeed, as well as the many setbacks he would face along the way. And yet, sitting there listening to him, what was so captivating about Peter was his passion, because in the end, we knew that only passion that strong would keep him going in the face of the tremendous challenges ahead. Additionally, his vision really resonated with us; we had been looking for possibilities to go to space and perhaps find a way for other like us with a passion for space to be able to do it as well. While some options existed, they lacked credibility. The beauty of the X PRIZE was that we didn’t have to decide which company had the greatest probability of building a safe and usable private spaceship, we could support all of the competing teams (and therefore multiple solutions) and we would not have to pay out unless there was a winner. The investment also offered considerable leverage, as the $10 million prize purse would incentivize multiple teams around the globe to compete, and those teams would find sponsors to invest in their technology (in the end team and sponsorship investment amounted to over $100 million). So we signed on to sponsor the prize, which then became known as the Ansari X PRIZE. Throughout the competition, for selfish reason, I hoped with all my heart that someone would win. I wasn’t sure if it was possible, but I always maintained hope — even when the first deadline passed and the prize remained unclaimed. As a family of entrepreneurs, we are eternally optimistic, so we decided to extend the deadline by a year. When I realized the second deadline was drawing near, I still didn’t lose hope. I had witnessed miracles in the past, and I knew we were on the brink of something really important. When the prize was at last won (with less than a month until the deadline!), it exceeded all of my expectations. Witnessing SpaceShipOne hanging in the Air & Space museum really proved that we had made history. And when we learned that the prize had sparked a new industry and that Sir Richard Branson commercialized the technology… Well, that was just the cherry on top. Now, as a member of the Board of Trustees and the Vision Circle of the X PRIZE Foundation, I have the opportunity to continue to make history using incentive prizes to drive radical breakthroughs. Although there are four different areas, including Energy & the Environment, Life Sciences, Exploration, and Education & Global Development, that are being addressed with X PRIZEs, I am a space cadet. I look forward to the day when the $30 million Google Lunar X PRIZE is won, and I am committed to developing more space-based prizes which will give us further access to crucial materials and energy necessary to solve some of mankind’s greatest challenges. Tune in next week for the culmination of the blog series, when Brian Binnie tells about what it felt like to fly in the $10 million Ansari X PRIZE winning flight!

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AIG’s U.S. Bailout Terms Are Not Likely to Be Relaxed, Credit Suisse Says

September 23, 2009

By Hugh Son Sept. 23 (Bloomberg) — American International Group Inc. ’s U.S. bailout is unlikely to be revised because its terms are already favorable for the insurer, Credit Suisse Group AG said. AIG’s government rescue has been revised three times in the past year and the interest rate charged on loans within the $182.5 billion package is “very favorable” for the New York- based company, Thomas Gallagher , an analyst at Credit Suisse, said today in a note. He rates AIG shares “underperform.” A plan to lower the government’s stake in AIG, trim the interest rate on loans and extend the deadline to repay the debt is being considered by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee , an aide to the panel who declined to be identified said this week. Gallagher said it was unlikely the U.S. Treasury would surrender a portion its stake in the company without being paid for the investment. It “seems farfetched that the government would effectively either forgive debt or give up equity,” Gallagher wrote. “We struggle to come up with how these terms might reasonably be improved.” To contact the reporter on this story: Hugh Son in New York at hson1@bloomberg.net

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IRS: Deadline extended for amnesty program

September 22, 2009

IRS: Deadline extended for amnesty program

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`Clunkers’ Rebate Deadline Extended as Dealers Encounter Computer Problem

August 24, 2009

By Vivek Shankar and Joe Richter Aug. 24 (Bloomberg) — The U.S. Transportation Department extended the deadline for automobile dealers to file applications for “cash for clunkers” rebates until noon tomorrow Washington time. The deadline for transactions is now 8 p.m. today, which had been the deadline for filing applications, according to an e-mailed statement. Auto retailers trying to send repayment requests have been hindered by malfunctioning government computers today, a dealer group said. The clunkers computer system has crashed or shut down three times since the government announced the cut-off date Aug. 20, putting “million of dollars” at risk for dealers who may not be able to submit valid claims in time, the National Automobile Dealers Association said. The McLean, Virginia-based group pressed the Obama administration to change the deadline. The program, which offers auto buyers discounts of as much as $4,500 to trade in older cars and trucks for new, more fuel- efficient vehicles, has recorded more than 625,000 dealer transactions worth $2.58 billion in rebates, according to Transportation Department data released today. To contact the reporter responsible for this story: Vivek Shankar at vshankar3@bloomberg.net

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AutoNation Among Dealers Putting Brakes on `Clunker’ Sales Before Deadline

August 22, 2009

By Doron Levin and Alex Ortolani Aug. 22 (Bloomberg) — AutoNation Inc., the largest U.S. auto retailer, is among several retailers who have stopped selling cars and trucks under the Obama administration’s “cash for clunkers” program at least two days before the deadline. Group 1 Automotive Inc. , citing paperwork backlogs and slow reimbursements from the Transportation Department, also stopped such sales today. Some independent dealers have also quit taking older vehicles for federal subsidies of up to $4,500 on new, more fuel-efficient ones under the $3 billion U.S. program, formally known as the Car Allowance Rebate System . The plan has recorded more than 489,000 dealer transactions valued at $2.04 billion in rebates, according to Transportation Department data released yesterday. The department said it wouldn’t extend a deadline of 8 p.m. Aug. 24 for submitting applications for the rebates. It’s up to dealers to decide when to stop taking trade-ins in order to make filings on time. “If we make a deal and aren’t able to submit the paperwork in time it could pose a significant financial risk to the company,” Peter DeLongchamps, a Group 1 vice president, said Friday in a telephone interview. The cutoff today ensures that “we have enough time to get our deals in by Monday night,” the deadline set by the government for applications, AutoNation President Mike Maroone said yesterday in a Bloomberg television interview from the company’s headquarters in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The government owes AutoNation about $45 million for sales by its dealers under the program, Maroone said. The company has “no doubt” that it will receive the payments, he said. “It has been an unbelievable program.” AutoNation rose 1 cent, or 0.1 percent, to $19.11 Friday in New York Stock Exchange composite trading and is 93 percent higher so far this year. ‘Cumbersome’ Process Group 1’s eastern region , which includes New York and Florida, had been able to submit 800 completed applications from its 1,200 eligible sales because of “cumbersome” processing, DeLongchamps said yesterday. That unit, comprising 41 percent of the Houston-based company’s operations, had already stopped taking in clunkers. Slowdowns and crashes with the program’s computer system may keep some dealers from being able to submit applications by the deadline, National Automobile Dealers Association said in a statement yesterday. The group recommended that the deadline be extended so every valid deal can be accepted. The Transportation Department will not change the deadline, Jill Zuckman , a spokeswoman, said in an e-mail. The government’s payouts are behind, too, dealers said. Of the roughly 4,000 deals Group 1 had completed companywide as of Aug. 20, it received reimbursement for 37, DeLongchamps said. Group 1 rose 16 cents, or 0.5 percent, to $30.29 Friday in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. It has more than doubled this year. Others Stop, Too Some independent auto dealers in the San Francisco Bay area said they had already stopped offering clunker deals. Slow payments from the government, burdensome paperwork and a lack of cars on the lot led Stewart Chevrolet Cadillac in Colma, California to opt out early, Frank Fragomeni, general manager, 53, said. “We’re finished with the clunkers program,” Fragomeni, 53, said. The dealership had been repaid for only one vehicle out of about 50 sold under the program. “ You’ve got to have a lot of capital to withstand that kind of exposure,” he said. How It Works Consumers get $4,500 vouchers if the new car they are buying gets 10 miles-a-gallon better gas mileage than the model they are trading in. For light trucks, the improvement must be 5 mpg better than the older model, and for large light trucks, 2 mpg. For a $3,500 voucher, the improvement for cars must be 4 mpg or better, for light trucks, 2 mpg, and for large light trucks, 1 mpg. The trade-in vehicle must be no older than a 1984 model and get 18 mpg or less in combined city/highway fuel economy. New passenger cars purchased with the vouchers must get at least 22 mpg in city/highway fuel economy, light trucks must get at least 18 mpg, and large light trucks 15 mpg. Toyota Motor Corp. ’s Corolla has been the most-purchased vehicle under the program. Three of the top six are Toyota sedans; three of the top 10 are Honda Motor Co. models. Joe Shaghasi, general manager for San Francisco Ford Lincoln Mercury, said he had spoken with other dealers who were opting out of the program. Decent Sellers Gone “We haven’t stopped” he said yesterday in San Francisco. “This has brought a lot of people through our doors,” said Shaghasi, 40. “It has been phenomenal.” Bobby Lynn, general manager of Burien Chevrolet in Burien, Washington, south of Seattle, had to turn away one person looking for a Chevy Traverse, a crossover SUV, indicating that some potential sales may be thwarted by lack of inventory. He’s also out of the Cobalt sedan. “Anything that was a decent seller to begin with is gone now,” he said. The Chevrolet outlet and a second dealership, Burien Toyota, have a combined $380,000 in claims outstanding, he said. “Now, the critical part of it has been horrible: dealing with the Web site, not getting paid.” To contact the reporter on this story: Doron Levin in Southfield, Michigan, at dlevin5@bloomberg.net ; Alex Ortolani in Southfield, Michigan, at aortolani1@bloomberg.net

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